Author: Sarah

In my quest for my next step in life, I got out for a walk with one of my closest buddies this morning and happened across this little cafe, or should I say not so little.

Set amongst the cows and trees, Cornwall Park Cafe is gorgeous. Though it looked too full to even bother trying for a table there were a couple spare.

I was surprised to see the majority of their patrons were dressed a heck of a lot more smartly than me, as we were the only ones who appeared to be in our exercise gear. It’s amazing how differently you are treated when you’re slumming it in your too tight lycra pants with a fresh windswept face (that’s me putting in kindly)…….

Owned by Andrew Bell of Andiamos in Herne Bay, this place has only been opened for 8 short weeks. Due to open in time for the last summer season, some little buggers decided to play with fire and destroyed it. Apparently it was very contentious even opening a cafe here in the first place, maybe it was one of the anti people who did it?

One of my favourite things was the inside. I can imagine if I was to build a house, this is the style I would go for, full of glass windows, all open plan and welcoming, or a some might say a goldfish bowl.

Anyway, I ordered my Allpress double shot, trim flat white which came quickly and was served by one of the young, pretty and very friendly girls working here, Shelley had a fruit tea (I loved the pot and smells from across the table) and Rachie had her latte.

What better way to celebrate the effort of earning 7,000 steps according to my fitbit, than by sampling one of the many sweet treats they had on offer…..I declined

the selections of donuts and pastries and instead downgraded to basic banana bread, which wasn’t so basic at all with pistachios hidden inside prob equivalent to 10,000 fitbit steps.

Is this somewhere I would bring my kids?

Kids seem pretty welcome here with an area set aside with bean bags and racy toys, though I’m not sure they would welcome my 3 here, an 11-year-old might be just a tad to tall for one of those…..There were a few prams and a gorgeous little girl next to us, they had high chairs, not that I’ll ever be needing the use of one of those again…..

It turned out to be a very fruitful morning indeed, I managed to catchup with close friends and also landed myself an assignment – social media promotion……

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I’ve spent the last week in Queenstown kicking myself for not making it down there sooner.

I mean my oldest friend has only lived there for the past 4 years, is that not an excuse to get down there?

So coming back from my week-long ski adventure has got me thinking about what I want to do with my life and what sort of person I want to be.

Do I want to keep working as a Management Accountant? I mean enjoy it, especially the Excel Modelling side of things, however what I am really doing? Just working for another company? Trying to make my family ‘fit’ around a corporate machine? Surely I must be able to use my time and skills in a more fulfilling way?

I know I want to be a good person, a person who cares for others, a person who my children can look up to and hopefully be inspired by in some way or form…

I want to be calm and somewhat serene-like (if that really is possible) as I often barely stop for a breath, rushing here and there…

I want to listen to what people have to say…

I know I love design and the sociability of design, be it social media or just anything. I see art everywhere (sorry if that sounds a bit wanky, I can’t quite think of how to phrase that one)…

I tell the children in my sons class when we are doing art, that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. They are often so critical of their efforts, however I tell them there is no such thing as ‘bad’ art, it’s all subjective to what we see.

So as its time to go and pick up the baby birds, I’ll ponder on all I have written…..leaving it all slightly unfinished, hmmmm I think I like that…..

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I’m sitting here all cosied up in my house. We had central heating installed 3 weeks ago and OMG it is life changing!!!

Not only am I warm but with the house finally being complete I probably have to put my house renovation obsession to bed by moving on or I could look for another renovation project…Wait there is nothing around here for sale that is even remotely interesting…….yet

So i’m sitting here with kids in bed, pooches surrounding me, central heating off (I hate to skite but it got too hot). I think maybe I’ll have to go back to work so I can afford to finish dressing the house, I think thats almost as expensive as renovating, well maybe a slight exaggeration on my part.

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For the better of course! It has officially lost its status of a grey, boring and VERY unwelcoming entrance way…

From this:

To this:

I find it amazing that such a transformation can take place in just one day.

And what a busy ‘one day’ it was…4 men came in from 7.30am until 4.30pm and levelled my front lawn, added scoria, gravel etc and then laid this amazing turf over the top of it.

This stuff is called Tiger Turf, is actually synthetic, though its hard to tell in the photos, I will never have to mow it or really do much at all. I guess you could say its the lazy persons lawn, (or busy persons lawn if I’m being PC about it). All I’ll need to do is get my leaf blower out to clear the never ending dropping of Pohutakawa seed pods (see my new stained driveway) off from it and the occasional spray of weedkiller from any weeds blown in.

It’s created a whole other play area for the kids now, they can ride their bikes around on it and not get muddy, play netball or basketball (once the hoop goes back in), lets hope our backyard doesn’t become redundant, though I doubt that given there is a massive tramp and play fort resplendent with monkey bars, swings and a climbing wall, to encourage all sorts of squealing much to our 87 year old neighbours disappointment.

So why fake grass?

Apart from the obvious easy care factor, we have the fortune of having a beautiful 100+ year old Pohutakawa tree overhanging the front of our section. Apart from all the stuff that drops off and the grass that will not grow beneath it, to add a garage would not only would cost more than we are currently willing to spend (and yes we are now officially broke) we would have to get resource consent, arborist reports etc as our garage would be infringing on the trees drip line (overhanging branches into our section).

Adding a garage we could potential kill this beautiful tree, even though some of my neighbours would be happy with this, I would not. It’s so beautiful, in summer its a stunning red xmas tree and it’s what I look at every morning when I open my bedroom blinds, sitting in my bed, rather than the back of the fugly german restaurant across the road…..

And to think only a month ago I was seriously thinking I might want to part with this house, what with the property prices in Auckland going crazy and our house increasing in value ridiculously almost overnight…….now with each change realised after 10 years of planning, I am seriously into my home. For me renovating has been more stressful than I realised, it is all so consuming, I find myself becoming obsessed with all things house, its hard to come back down to reality and start living a normal life, one that doesn’t involve spending every free moment scouring Houzz and Pinterest for amazing ideas, or arguing with plumbers and tilers about various issues……

Anyway, enough about that, so what do you think?

Next step, the new gate goes in 3rd June, and in the meantime planting & staining decks for me (oh yes and kids bday parties galore again)……

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Now everything is finished here (well almost), I get to do the fun stuff like decorating my house…..

This is my bathroom completed:

And this was it beforehand: Sorry about the boring loo shot, can’t find the other photos.

Pretty average right, however it wasn’t terrible exactly and after all an ensuite is an ensuite after all, could be a hole in the ground couldn’t it and then i’d really be complaining about my sore legs!

Anyway I’m ranting a bit, all I can say is I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new ensuite and master bedroom. Love having ‘his’ & ‘hers’ basins and all that storage space, I’ve taken both drawers and 3/4 of the mirrored cabinet. He who is once again earning the money is a very tolerant man…..

Once the new bed arrives (see pict with that rather crap, boring linen) and my custom made unit for behind the bed arrives, I’ll delight you (or possibly) bore you with those picts. Hmmmm can’t believe I actually thought of selling a few months ago! NEVER!, well not this week anyway!

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This update has been a long time coming. For the last 3 months i’ve been saying to my husband ‘this week will be the week I get onto my blog’ but strangely I seem to have lost motivation. Maybe its because my renovation is coming to any end. What will I do now? I think i’ll have to find something to keep my creative side sated.

So this update is to fill you in on whats been happening here lately.

In the past month we have been working on our ensuite and master bedroom, the gib has been pulled off and ensuite has been ripped out in order to give us a brand new bathroom and bedroom in which to snooze at night.

The motivation behind this was, well, just because it seems crazy to have this amazing downstairs and then a shithouse upstairs that would ‘one day’ get done.

This tilers are tiling as we speak, the painters have gone and i’m crossing my fingers i’m back in my lovely new bedroom by the end of next week!!

Oops my online food shop has arrived, better hide the easter eggs before the kids get home or the dog eats them! Bbl with photos (once I find them!)

Sa x

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Wow, the weather has been stunning here in Auckland, especially given the slow start we had. We decided to hang around all summer with the odd exception of a few overnights stays at friends holiday houses, a boat trip, day trips etc…..

Usually in Summer we find Auckland goes dead, this summer I’ve noticed it was only a few days either side of xmas, all the left over city dwellers head on down to Mission Bay (or our beach) to bake themselves and just enjoy the freedom only the christmas period brings. Being a now seasoned beachsider, I’ve set myself up pretty well, i’ve got a sun umbrella, sun tent, picky blanket and beach trolley to pull it all down, easy as when you’re living 40 metres from the beach.

Holiday chat aside I’ve been thinking about what I can put my energy into now the main part of the reno is finished. I’d like to do more, but at the mo given our huge overspend I’d better hold myself back and given ‘he who earns the money’ is no longer ‘he who earns the money’ as he’s started his own consultancy, I think I should be patient and wait…..

ha me be patient! friends of mine who read this blog and know me well will laugh at this as I have never been known for that, more known for my impulsiveness and inability to keep things to myself!!! I am trying this year to keep my mouth selectivley closed, I think they say mystery is interesting right???

Anyway I digress as per usual Sarah style…..this year I’ve decided to look into design courses much to the hubbys delight as he’s been pushing me to go into interiors, seems rather clique to me though, mum with 3 kids, used to be an accountant becomes an interior designer……

so i’m thinking either some kind of textile design or spacial design…….that is if there is something part time like this that I can get into, I NEED to channel my overzealousness and love of all things design.

Better go, i’m a bit hot and bothered after a power walk so need to freshen up for yet another social occasion and this one thankfully involved a pool!

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I’m sitting in my very cosy, sunny living room typing on ‘he who earns the money’s’ new laptop finally updating my blog.

I’ve gotta say, I’m using a PC instead of my usual MacBook and am not sure at all if I like it. I suppose it will grow on me, and it is what I use at work, but hmmmmmmmm I feel a bit unsettled by this laptop. Maybe its me getting older and being used to my mac and not wanting to learn windows 8 and its new ‘fantastic’ features, or maybe I just love my 4 year old ‘yes and slow’ MacBook.

So this week has been as busy for us as I’m sure it has for all of you! I managed to at the last minute find an outdoor table and cushions just in time for our Christmas Eve and Day celebrations…….its lovely finally being able to sit outside, eat drink and be merry in the sunshine……..

Found some cute little stools as well that just finish it all off (she says with her feet up on one).

Well what else can I fill you on? Not a lot else, we’re hanging around for the holidays, I figure, our house is closer to the beach than any bach we could afford and since most of Auckland migrates out of the city, why not enjoy the peace and quiet and take off for our holidays later this year.

‘He who earns the money’ no longer ‘earns the money’ as such, he’s decided to branch out on his on, much to my delight ‘I’m very much playing the supportive wife card’ and don’t worry I’ll store that one up for a rainy day….lol and i’m off for the summer as my long term contract has come to an end, though they tell me they are trying to find me something for next year… so we’re just chilling enjoying hanging with our baby birds, pottering around our divine house………..

Ok, time to catch up on some tv….

Sa x

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I thought it was time to pop some photos up on my blog of the finished renovation, I’m not sure if i’m repeating myself, but i’m sure this is well long overdue…. It was such a full on process and my kitchen production company was really amazingly patient with me! We changed our design a few times and probably took… Read more →